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User blog:Capi3101/WCRPG Update for October 27, 2014
Greetings, Wingnuts and Citizens! Time for the Weekly WCRPG Update. I got a fair amount accomplished this past week, not the least of which was the completion of two more Elegy characters, Dakut'he "K'chodyapaki" Ki'ra and Knav'qith dai Knavska. On Monday I built a set of stats for the DeLong-class supoply tender and built a profile for the Saga character of Ranger, both of which I was able to complete before the end of the day. Work on K'chodyapaki took up the bulk of the week, starting on Tuesday and going through Thursday. Easter eggs in his profile include a number of veiled Great Expectations and Downton Abbey references (the names have all been changed into Kilrathi to protect the guilty, of course). I hope I didn't make the guy out to be totally worthless; he is supposed to be humble but also fiercely loyal and very skilled in a somewhat narrow range of topics. I picked up work on Knav'qith's history after I finished K'chodyapaki, which took me into Friday afternoon. His was mostly complete already, so he mainly only needed the events that led him to T'kon H'hra and his outlook/desires written up. I had that done by noontime on Friday, so I finished the week out with a couple of minor things that have needed to be done for a while. That encompassed the addition of a couple of words to the Kilrathi language page and a little bit of work on the profile of the Thieves Guild. I still haven't finished the Thieves Guild profile yet, but I did make some good progress on it. I've still got several other faction profiles to write up for Chapter Six and should probably get them done before work on the plot gets too far along. It'd be helpful to know exactly who all I'm dealing with in the story, right? The Plan for this week is to start off by building stats for the Goshawk Heavy Fighter, one of the designs from the Andorran Republic (anybody 'memba them from the early days of the Aces? I'd love to do some stats for the Osprey and Kestrel fighters; haven't found them again). I'm done with Saga pilots, so I'm on to Hermes staff; this week I'm slated to do Commander Sweeney (er.....write stats for Commander Sweeney, lemme clarify). After that I'm on to business as usual. At this point there are five Demon's Eye Pack characters left to complete - Najekh, B'de, Dya'a'ji, Le'a'he and Naj'bakdor. Naj'bakdor and Le'a'he are the furthest along at this point, both listed in "post-war" status despite having a few life events left to write prior to the end of the War. B'de's history has some pretty good notes. Dya'a'ji's notes are incomplete and I've mentioned my troubles with Najekh before in previous updates - I'd dump him entirely but I still think he's a character who will have an important role within the group. B'de and Naj'bakdor are likely choices to see work this week. My wife liked it when I told her Dya'a'ji's specialty was setting things on fire, so I might see if she's got any more ideas for that character's history. As for the other two, I'll have to see if I have time. I still need to get the PDFs set up on the site and there are other things that need to get done (like working on the editing of Aginor's campaign, which I need to get back to doing soon). I do see the light at the end of the tunnel on the characters, though, and am hopeful that work on the campaign's plot will begin soon. That's it for this week; next update between between 11-14Z on November 3rd. And now for Colonel Walker, the Texan they call "Ranger"... Ranger Shane Walker is a native Texan, born in San Angelo and raised on his family's ranch just outside the community of Miles about twenty miles to the northeast, near the intersection of the Runnels, Tom Green and Concho County lines. His youth was spent helping the family on the ranch, attending school and playing football for the Miles Bulldogs; he continued playing through junior high but didn't make the cut for the Mile High School varsity team. He was nine when the Confederation declared war on the Kilrathi, and clearly remembered hearing about the McAullife Ambush and later the Enyo Engagement in his classrooms. He didn't consider an active military career until his sophomore year of high school. His history teacher, Mr. Norris, was a veteran of the Confederation's final war with the Pilgrim Alliance and liked to stay current on political events. He enjoyed engaging his students in philosophical debates on the subject of social responsibility, and in particular the notion that it required being prepared to make individual sacrifices; Robert Heinlein's classic work Starship Troopers was often discussed and compared to current events (notably the Kilrathi offensive and Confederation counter-offensive ongoing in Vega Sector at the time). By the time that school semester had ended, Walker had decided that he would enter military service as soon as he was able. Walker applied to and was accepted to the Space Force Academy in 2644. His performance was excellent and he graduated in the top 10% of his class with a Second Lieutenant's commission. He later attended flight school and was given the callsign of Ranger due to his detectable west-Texas accent. His first combat tour was aboard TCS Wellington, a fleet carrier of the Concordia-class, where he specialized in the A-14 Raptor. He stayed with Wellington in tours of Vega and Enigma Sector until 2648 and earned numerous medals and commendations during his time there. His next tour of duty was aboard the cruiser TCS Antietam. In 2649, Antietam was assigned along with roughly two-thirds of the Vega Sector fleet to Operation Shiva, a mission to invade and occupy Kilrah itself. The campaign was going well until the attempted invasion of G'wriss, when stronger-than-expected resistance forced a complete rout of the fleet. Antietam was forced to retreat and during the ensuing set of skirmishes both the ship's CAG and his exec were killed in action; Captain Walker was ranking officer at that point and assumed command over the remaining fighter wing. With support from elements aboard TCS Tiger's Claw, Antietam survived what would later be called "Custer's Carnival", with Walker accomplishing tasks generally expected from a more experienced officer with distinction. Walker was rotated to shore duty while Antietam went into drydock for repair and refit. He became part of a Test and Evaluation Squadron, putting new fighter designs through their final paces before their assignment to front-line units. He flew almost every fighter that would be assigned to Confederation frontline units in the 2660s during this time, from craft as light as the P-64 to behemoths like the A-20, becoming highly proficient in the designs. He was eventually transferred back to front-line duty in 2661 with a promotion to the grade of Major; his next tour of duty was aboard TCS Washington. His experience in the test squadron served him well; intimately familiar with every craft in the ship's arsenal, Walker knew how to use each craft to inflict maximum destruction on the Kilrathi enemy, earning him an outstanding reputation aboard ship and several squadron rotations as mission-specific needs arose. He was ultimately given permanent assignment as XO of the ship's Sabre squadron. When the CO's spot became available, Walker assumed that he would be assigned to the position; ultimately, however, the job went to Major Matthew "Pawn" Moran, an officer newly assigned to Washington. This did not sit well with Walker, and as a result the two officers started off as fierce rivals; they butted heads in everything from personality clashes to flight operations. Ultimately, though the two learned to respect one another and became close friends. At the Battle of the Enigma Black Hole, Moran was gravely injured; though he survived, he was permanently grounded afterwards and Moran recommended that Major Walker be given command of the squadron. Further campaign actions aboard Washington in Epsilon and Enigma Sectors would see Ranger ultimately promoted to the grade of Colonel as well as subsequent reassignments first as ship's Deputy Wing Commander, then finally as the permanent Commander, Air Group. By 2668, he was well-established as a combat leader and tactician. That year, Washington was sent to Trojan IV for an extensive reactor refit and modernization, and for the next few months leading up to and during the False Peace, Colonel Walker took a billet as Chief Staff Officer to General Gruelmack, commander of the 4th Space Force, aboard space station Orion. During the Battle of Earth, Colonel Walker was instrumental in leading the fighter group from Orion against the Kilrathi Armada, which helped the forces of Admiral Tolwyn’s fleet to buy time for the Marines. After the Battle of Earth, there was a need for senior officers to fill in command billets for various fleet carriers coming back online, and Walker requested such a posting. His request was granted and he was assigned as the new Commander, Air Group aboard TCS Hermes under the command of his old squadron commander Matthew Moran. He served in that capacity during the War's final year, overseeing operations in important campaigns such as Operation Prowl Growl, the ship's assignment to the Behemoth Squadron, and the Battle of Hyperion. After the War's conclusion, he was offered and accepted a posting as Commandant of the Space Force Academy and spent the rest of his career in upper echelon staff positions. He ultimately retired from active service having achieved the flag rank of Lieutenant General, moving back to the family ranch outside of Miles. Colonel Walker brings over twenty years of experience to the frontlines. He is arguably the most experienced pilot in the Hermes Air Wing and can fly any fighter in the Confederation's inventory. He prefers to lead from the front and he consistently alternates between different squadrons when he flies patrols, which helps to keep his skills honed and helps him remain familiarized with the pilots under his command. He is the epitome of a military hardass, with his strict demeanor and military bearing. He demands much from his pilots - but as a rule he doesn't order them to do anything that he hasn't done himself first. Category:Blog posts